Emanuel Pastreich

Stories from Emanuel Pastreich

Richard Bush is director of the Center for East Asia Policy Studies (CEAP) at Brookings Institution and is a senior fellow at the John L. Thornton China Center. For five years before that he was the chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan, the mechanism through which the United States government conducts substantive relations with Taiwan in the absence of diplomatic relations.

The Asia Institute hosted a seminar bringing together experts from around the world to discuss the critical topic of the role of women in science and technology at the India Education Center in cooperation with the Center for Women in Science, Engineering and Technology on September 26.

Emanuel Pastreich, President of The Asia Institute, recently had an opportunity to speak with Nayan Chanda, renowned Indian author and journalist, about Korea’s new global role. Mr. Chanda is one of the leading experts on the topic of globalization. His comments on Korea are of particular value because of his conception which does not assume the West to be the center of globalization forces. Mr.

We have read numerous articles describing the apocalyptic future that awaits Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and portions of China’s coastline as a dramatic drop in childbirths, combined with the extended life expectancy, creates cities of elderly with no youth to support them.

Although such concerns are not unfounded, and if all other factors were constant, this would be convincing enough, yet there is one factor that many analysts have left out. There is currently a revolution taking place in robot technology which will be fully unleashed over the next five years, from 2012 to 2017. An increasing number of tasks will be done more effectively and more consistently by robots, a change that may well completely transform society as well as our relationship with machines. Although we are beginning to get some sense of the contours of this shift in our world, most citizens have not fully thought through just how profound those changes may be.

It may seem odd to suggest that Italy be the model for Korea in its future development in technology.

Although Italy does not hold the dominant position in high volume manufacturing that Korea possesses, Italy offers exactly what Korea needs to jump into the next stage of economic development: an emphasis on fashion and ergonomics.

It may seem odd to suggest that Italy be the model for Korea in its future development in technology. Although Italy does not hold the dominant position in high volume manufacturing that Korea possesses, Italy offers exactly what Korea needs to jump into the next stage of economic development: an emphasis on fashion and ergonomics. Italy has established itself as the undisputed leader in design, with such names as Gucci, Prada and Ferragamo in fashion and in the automotive sector with leaders such as Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini. The aesthetic sensibility and artistic quality found in Italian products are what Korean products lack today.

Let us start with the basic facts. Korea does not need more technology at this point and it does not need more manufacturing capacity. It needs to build cutting-edge devices that will capture the imagination of users and define new fields, along the lines of the I-Phone.

Let us consider the case of handheld devices. Korea must dominate the high-end of handheld devices and use that position to make its brand value unassailable along the lines of Gucci or Ferrari.

The environmental challenges we face today compel us to reconsider the conventional economic concept of growth and recognize that it cannot be easily reconciled with the dangerous implications of runaway consumption and unlimited development.

We have recently witnessed a flurry of meetings between diplomats, politicians and grey-haired scholars from across Asia to discuss climate change, the environment, the financial crisis and energy challenges in anticipation of the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change. Yet the individuals we see on TV will not be in this world in 2040 to experience a possible worst-case scenario.

Daedeok Innopolis, the administrative headquarters for the science and technology research cluster in Korea's famed Daedeok Valley, will open its Daedeok Business Hub Center in November, 2009. This step is part of a push to truly internationalize commercialization and technology transfer activities.